Thoracic surgeries: preoperative investigations, indications and contraindications, postoperative care. Frequent complications
1. Big picture
Thoracic surgery is high-risk because the operation is performed close to the lungs, heart, great vessels, trachea, esophagus, thoracic duct, and major nerves, and the patient often already has reduced cardiopulmonary reserve.
For the oral exam, the examiner wants one central logic:
Before thoracic surgery, ask 3 questions:
1. Is the patient OPERABLE?
→ Can the patient tolerate anesthesia, one-lung ventilation, pain, and loss of lung tissue?
2. Is the disease RESECTABLE?
→ Can the surgeon remove it safely and completely?
3. Is the treatment CURATIVE or only palliative?
→ Will the operation truly improve survival, symptoms, or source control?
The uploaded lecture material highlights the same decision-making principle:
Preoperative → operability
Intraoperative → resectability
Postoperative → curability
This topic is therefore not just a list of investigations. It is a perioperative thoracic surgery workflow.
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